A number of coal mining pits have been dug in this general area. The coal sought was the Main Coal Seam - this was of some quality. Three shafts at least were dug; one proved barren of coal. The two others found the Main Coal Seam at varying depths. There is no way of separating the productive and unproductive shafts from surface earthwork traces alone. It is likely that these shafts were dug in the 19th century to produce coal for the immediate area. By the 1880s and the arrival of the Alnwick-Coldstream railway line many of the smaller North Northumberland pits, such as these, found it unprofitable to compete with the major producers in the south of the county.